


Hot Water

by misura



Category: FAKE (Manga)
Genre: Community: fic_on_demand, M/M, Sexual Harassment, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-30
Updated: 2011-04-30
Packaged: 2017-10-18 19:58:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/192678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A team outing to an <i>onsen</i> (hot spring).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Water

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted June 2007

To say that everyone had been overjoyed at the announcement that they'd be visiting an onsen to 'promote team-building and reward the employees for their hard work of the past few months' would have been an exaggeration - several people, for example, had no idea what an onsen _was_ , or how to pronounce the word. Once Ryo'd explained, the reactions were mixed.

Drake, Ted and Dee were united in their opinion that getting to see one's colleagues naked couldn't possibly promote any kind of team-building, unless it involved mixed bathing, and possibly not even then, what with sexual harassment-claims and all.

JJ declared he thought it was a great idea, since it meant he'd get to see Dee naked.

Ryo firmly stated that they were all completely missing the point of visiting an onsen, which had nothing to do with being naked, and everything to do with relaxing and enjoying a good soak.

Commissioner Berkely Rose was heard to comment that he thought Ryo's opinion both intelligent and charmingly naive, and that, due to the outlay of the onsen, the bathing would take place in groups no bigger than three and (for financial reasons) no smaller than two. People were encouraged to come up with their own groups, although, as their superior, Berkely reserved the right to make changes in the arrangements as he saw fit.

(Special agent Diana Spacey, when she heard about the whole affair, said this was a typical example of 'dividing and conquering'.)

 

All in all, it was probably a lucky thing no major crimes were commited during the week before the outing (or, if they were, the police remained unaware of them) as several people tried to grab the unique opportunity the onsen-outing had provided them with or, in some cases, tried to make sure that the unique opportunity the onsen-outing had provided to others would not be grabbed.

Ted and Drake had concluded that the best thing for them to do was to declare that they were a group with one opening left, and then to wait and see how far they could push Dee (who wanted the spot) and JJ (who didn't want the spot, but who didn't want Dee to get the spot either).

Ryo considered the whole thing rather childish and steadfastly refused to get involved in any of it - Dee made the mistake of trying to bribe him into agreeing to become a group with him, which prompted JJ to make a tearful declaration of eternal love and Ryo to storm away in a huff.

In the end, Dee agreed to cover for Ted and Drake during two shifts of their choosing - he'd tried to get them to promise the shifts in question wouldn't require him to team up with JJ, but both Ted and Drake had rejected that condition - and to be their coffee-boy for a full month.

Ryo dedided that probably meant he'd be in one group with JJ and Commissioner Rose - an arrangement he felt moderately content with, since neither man was Dee (who was just too much of a horndog for Ryo to be comfortable with the idea of being naked in front of him) and anyway, with JJ there, the chance of the commissioner making an inappropriate suggestion were greatly reduced. It would just be a nice outing, exactly the way it should be.

JJ went home early, sobbing at the sheer injustice of it all.

 

To nobody's surprise, at the morning of the outing, Dee and Ted were the last to arrive, with Ryo having been the first to be there, followed by JJ and Drake. JJ was unexpectedly cheerful throughout the bus-trip to the onsen, and it was only once they'd arrived that Dee found out why.

Dee protested, while Ted and Drake cautiously backed him, reluctant to let their bribe slip through their fingers. JJ threw a tantrum at the mere suggestion of a last-minute change in arrangements, to which Dee pointed out that his having been put in the same group as JJ had also been a last-minute change, not to mention a financially unsound one, as three groups were more expensive than the original two that had been planned on.

At this point, Dee turned to appeal to Commissioner Rose's financial sense (if he insisted on making Dee's life harder, he should at least have the decency not to use government-funds to do so), who was conspiciously absent all of a sudden, as was Ryo. A quick interrogation of the onsen-employees yielded the information that the Commissioner had decided the ongoing dispute was no concern of his, and that it would be a waste of time to stand around to listen to it.

Dee declared that in that case, he'd be going with Ted and Drake - JJ could get a bath of his own, for all that Dee cared. JJ whined, pouted and acted put upon, and in the end, Ted proposed that the four of them would make a group, and to hell with the maximum size. Both JJ and Dee were reluctant to accept this arrangement, but agreed in the end.

At about the same time this agreement was reached, Ryo found out that, simply put, he'd been had.

 

"Wasn't JJ supposed to be in our group?" Ryo asked, trying to to sound too worried.

"I made different arrangements," Berkely informed him, leaning back and closing his eyes. (Actually, he'd narrowed them just enough to give the impression he'd closed them, in the hopes of Ryo losing a bit of his reserve if he thought Berkely wasn't watching him.)

Ryo worried his lower lip. "Dee really doesn't like JJ ... as more than a friend."

Berkely snorted. "It's no concern of mine who Dee does or does not like, or whether he likes them as more than a friend or not. I simply wanted some alone-time with you, detective McLane." Being honest, Berkely had found, was always better than being too subtle, for all that subtlety certainly also had its place in romancing a slightly reluctant partner.

"This really is a very lovely onsen," Ryo said, changing the subject rather suddenly, not to mention clumsily. Berkely forgave him easily - it was part of Ryo's charm that he didn't know how to be rude and say outright that a topic made him uncomfortable. Besides, Berkely had said what he'd wanted to say.

"I agree." On the other hand, it wouldn't do to let Ryo stray too far, or let him think Berkely wasn't aware of what he'd just done. "You're a bit overdressed for the occasion, though."

Ryo flushed, his hands plucking on the towel that was wrapped around his waist. "I'm ... it's just that I ... feel somewhat uncomfortable."

Berkely deliberately misunderstood him. "Taking off the towel might help - you're really not supposed to wear them all the time; just when you're exiting or entering the bath. It's no wonder you're uncomfortable wearing it in this kind of heat."

"That's ... not what I meant." Ryo's face turned an even deeper shade of red.

"Ah, well, don't be shy on _my_ account." Berkely waved a hand, pretending the matter was of small interest to him. "I've seen naked men before, I assure you." A little too direct, that, perhaps. Still, might as well let Ryo know he had some experience in these kinds of matters. Unlike Dee who, unless Berkely misread the signs, was all bark and no bite, and basically straight.

Ryo's hands fluttered over his towel, then came to rest at his sides once more. Berkely wryly reflected that perhaps, it was just as well. He himself had dropped his towel the moment they'd entered the bath (Ryo'd choked and covered his eyes in a gesture that was nothing if not adorable) and if Ryo were to reveal what he was currently hiding underneath his towel, Berkely rather thought he might get a little ... uncomfortable himself. The water might serve to hide it, but at some point, they'd have to get out, and for all that Berkely was unashamed of his feelings, it still wouldn't do to display such a lack of self-control. Berkely prefered to appear like a smooth, suave and seductive gentleman, not some crude, sex-crazed horndog like certain of his detectives he could name.

For a few moments, neither of them spoke. Berkely allowed his mind to drift, closing his eyes for real this time and simply enjoying the sensation of the hot water surrounding his body. As he heard a soft splash, he kept his eyes closed for another ten seconds before he opened them to find Ryo had taken his advice and lost the towel, which was now lying in a wet heap on the floor next to the bath, with Ryo demurely sitting in the bath with his knees drawn up to his chin.

Berkely smiled. Ryo's position couldn't possibly be a comfortable one - which meant that soon enough, Ryo'd change it, maybe give Berkely a glimpse of what had been under that towel.

This outing had definitely been one of his better ideas, Berkely reflected.


End file.
